Collapsed retirement and care homes builder Castleoak was taking on new employees just seven days before bosses filed for administration.

Stunned staff were given the bad news on Monday with more than 100 people losing their jobs.

Among them was the new Head of Supply Chain who was only taken on the week before after leaving his previous employer of 13 years.

He wrote on LinkedIn: “Somewhat unbelievably, my employer of just seven days has today gone into administration. Not the best career move I have ever made!”

Reacting to the post another Castleoak worker made redundant said: “Never got to meet you but I’m sorry for the chaos you came to.

“Appalling that they let you start knowing what was going on, and yes they knew before you arrived… hope you find something soon.”

Castleoak was a Cardiff based developer with its own design and build division and offsite manufacturing facility.

Latest accounts filed at Companies House for Castleoak Holdings Ltd show that in the year to March 31 2019 the group made a pre-tax profit of £496,527 from a turnover of £67.2m and employed 152 staff.

HS2 is being challenged for using steel reinforcement from a non-UK approved Fench steel fabricator.

French fabricator Sendin has supplied pre-assembled steel reinforcement panels for the diaphragm walls forming two of the critical ventilation shafts on the Chiltern Tunnels section of the vast project.

It will also deliver further assemblies to the same section over the coming months.

HS2 claims the decision was taken to use the rebar fabricator because no other UK supplier could provide the necessary steel.

The volume of steel rebar awarded to Sendin is estimated at less than 5% of the total rebar used on Align’s section of the HS2 project.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “The original supplier of this steel reinforcement was UK-based, however this supplier was unable to maintain the agreed programme – forcing potential delays and therefore higher costs on the project.

“Our contractor approached all suitable alternative UK suppliers, but none could provide the necessary product in time.

He said: “The French fabricator Sendin is an internationally renowned supplier in this market that had previously held full UK certification and is in the process of being re-certified.

“They were able to respond quickly, allowing the project to stay on schedule. HS2 Ltd continues to work with UK Steel to provide updates on opportunities and broker relationships between its members and the HS2 supply chain.”

But British fabricators complain that the move conflicts with HS2’s own specification stipulating the need to use UK CARES approved fabricated reinforcement.

They also are concerned that the UK CARES certification body failed to act promptly to police the situation after being alerted back in March.

Stephen Elliott, Chairman of the British Association of Reinforcement, said there was ample UK rebar to supply demand in the market.

“HS2 is a major UK project being paid for by the UK public. It is, therefore, disappointing that HS2 is not ready to fully support the UK steel industry,” he said.

“We had hoped that UK major projects will work with, and not undermine, the UK steel industry.”

He added: “Of equal disappointment is that, despite being alerted to the importation of non-approved reinforcement, UK Cares has yet to make a formal public statement.

“CARES must been seen to police its own scheme, if it wants to stop another major project going down the same route.

Elliott added: “But nine months on since the CARES was first alerted such retrospective approval is rather like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

Fabricator Sendin is certified to meet the French AFCAB steel reinforcement certification scheme.

But rivals say it does not hold UK approval for reinforcement cutting and bending and reinforcing bars as the French standard does not meet the requirements of BS 4449 particularly in respect of the specified fatigue properties.

Nor does it hold UK approval for the application of the specified TA1-A reinforcement couplers.

Trade body UK Steel’s Director General, Gareth Stace, said: “It is hugely disappointing to see HS2 failing here to take the most basic step of using of steel made to British Standards.

“Such practice is practically universal practice across the UK construction sector, HS2 would have almost had to go out of its way not to use British Standard steel.

“In doing so, HS2 has missed a vital opportunity to support UK jobs and economic growth through its spending of taxpayer’s money.”

A spokesman for UK CARES said: “CARES continues to work closely with all its clients – in particular those engaged in major public sector infrastructure projects where safety, quality and sustainability standards are paramount.

“Those clients recognise that CARES certification is only achieved as a result of robust, wholly independent assurance processes which operate across a dynamic global steel supply chain.”

Manchester-based property developer CERT property has unveiled plans for a 30-floor residential tower on Salford’s Clippers Quay.

Its concept of a vertically zoned tower block, designed by OMI Architects, will offer a range of private living experiences from affordable to luxury.

Local Manchester builder Domis Construction has been lined up for the project, which will be submitted for planning once public consultation ends.

The lower brick-clad 9 floors will be set aside for co-living studios for people who want to try out the lifestyle available in the building with an affordable rental cost.

Above will be 15 floors of one and two-bedroom flats with high specification kitchens, bathrooms and all bills included.

In the top section of the building will be 15 luxury penthouse apartments with views Salford Quays and a top floor skybar.

In its consultation CERT said: “Successful urban areas such as Salford are seeing an influx of talented people from across the world.

“Cities have responded by delivering more city-centre residential accommodation, but these are often focused on the luxury areas of the market, meaning adults at the earlier stages of their career, or on lower incomes, may be forced to live in a less convenient and desirable location.

“Not with community living, our Clippers Quay development provides a variety of private living options for all.”

Project team

Project manager: Artal

Contractor: Domis Construction

Structural engineer: Renaissance

Fire engineer: Design Fire Consultants

M&E engineer: Ridge

Roads around a Hilton hotel being built by Sir Robert McAlpine in Woking were closed last week when cladding panels became “dislodged”.

Following the incident at the £540m Victoria Square development Cllr Ayesha Azad, Leader of Woking Borough Council, said on Friday: “I can confirm that following Wednesday’s incident, which saw a small number of exterior panels dislodged from the hotel development, senior officers from Woking Borough Council met with representatives of Victoria Square Woking Ltd and its contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM).

“Yesterday, a detailed inspection of the area of concern was undertaken by SRM’s sub-contractor, with further checks carried out today. As with any incident of this nature, SRM has mobilised their incident investigation team which includes independent advisers to fully scrutinise how and why this incident happened. With these investigations ongoing, it is inappropriate to speculate on the reasons why and how the panels became displaced.

“On the grounds of public safety, Sir Robert McAlpine took the decision to close Victoria Way on Wednesday afternoon in agreement with Surrey Police. Victoria Way will remain closed to traffic between the junctions with Goldsworth Road and Lockfield Drive until SRM is fully satisfied that there is no further risk to the public and construction site.

“Safety is my utmost concern and I would like to reassure members of the public that all partners involved fully understand the seriousness of the situation and are working collaboratively and expediently to resolve the matter.”

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First phase plans to develop Sheffield Hallam University’s city campus with three new buildings have got the green light from planners.

Now BAM Construction will start construction work in early 2022 under its ground-breaking pain-gain sharing alliance model – the first genuine alliance to be used in the higher education building sector.

The Hallam Alliance is made up of the university, design-led consultancy BDP-Arup, contractor BAM and facilities manager CBRE and will use the new NEC4 alliance contract as a commercial template.

Over the next five years, the alliance aims to set a new benchmark for “best for project” delivery and building management.

The three new buildings in the £220m phase one will be four to seven storeys high. They will be erected around a new 400 sq m public area called University Green on Arundel Lane, on the recently demolished science park.

Designs include the latest technology and measures to make the new buildings zero carbon ready.

They include the use of sustainable energy solutions such as heat pumps, maximising the use of photo voltaic panels and provisions to support and promote sustainable travel.

BAM’s Paul Cleminson, Preconstruction Director in the North East, said: “The emphasis on sustainability and green spaces is very significant. By combining development, design, construction and long-term thinking about how the buildings are operated, we are all making a big difference to the future of how the buildings are used for generations to come.”

Skilled self-employed labour rates have risen for the third month running in London and the North West.

Average weekly earnings for self-employed tradespeople in London increased by 1.8% to £938 during September while in the North West, earnings increased by 3.3% to £887.

According to the industry’s biggest employment contract services firm, Hudson Contract, the two areas have become pinch points for this skills shortage, while across the rest of country as a whole, pay rates actually dipped in September.

Across all regions average wages dipped by 1.7 % to £913 last month, while year-on-year earnings increased by 4.7%.

The East Midlands remained the region where self-employed trades commanded the highest pay despite a small fall last month.

Ian Anfield, managing director, said: “We estimate that through Covid the industry has been short of as many as 140,000 tradespeople, or 10% down on where we could have been, which has helped drive up labour rates in the face of high demand.

“Skills shortages – once an acute regional problem – has been exacerbated across the country by the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).”

Official statistics show construction workers claimed grants worth £966m in the last round of SEISS, which covered the period to September 15 2021.

In total, the sector has claimed grants worth nearly £11bn through the scheme which would amount to hundreds of millions of man hours.

Anfield added: “As SEISS ends, many will return to work but because huge infrastructure projects such as Hinkley Point and HS2 are in full swing, government departments have accelerated ‘shovel-ready’ projects and the ongoing housing and domestic work, demand will continue to outstrip supply.”

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An alliance of social landlords in the North aiming to deliver 10,000 offsite homes per year is starting market testing ahead on launching the tender for a £4bn framework.

The alliance which was formed this year now boasts 23 housing associations and regsitered providers among its membership., largely based in the North of England.

Great Places Housing Group, acting as the main procurement body, is now soft market testing suppliers ahead of inviting tenders next month.

This will involve evaluating the current OSHA designs and zero carbon roadmap with its prospective MMC supply chain.

OSHA has designed a short questionnaire that is available to download here.

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Bellway is expecting to generate around £1.25bn in cumulative underlying pre-tax profit over the next two financial years.

The returns will spell a bonanza for shareholders with one third of the cash distributed in dividends.

The target came as Britain’s fourth largest house builder posted a strong set of results for the year to July 31 2020.

Pre-tax profits rose to £479m from from £236.7m last time on turnover up to £3.1bn from £2.2bn.

Housing completions were also up to 10,138 from 7,522 with a target of hitting 12,200 homes by 2023. Bellway has a land bank of 86,571 plots.

Bellway also set aside a further net £51.8m as part of its “commitment to help owners of legacy apartment schemes undertake fire safety improvements”  bringing the total amount provided since 2017 in relation to post-Grenfell cladding issues to £164.7m.

Group chief executive Jason Honeyman added: “On a site level, we continue to undertake centralised layout and ground-work reviews, to ensure that quality is preserved, while driving further cost efficiencies in the construction process.

“We have also developed a matrix to help determine the optimum and most cost effective solution for retaining walls, depending on aesthetic requirements and we continue to encourage the sharing of best practice and new ideas through cross-functional and divisional working groups.

“Notwithstanding our strong commercial disciplines, overall cost inflation during the year has been in the mid-single digits, although this, in general, has been offset by rises in house prices.

“We continue to see price inflation on commodities such as steel, timber, MDF and polymers, but there are signs that some of the more pronounced price increases over recent months are beginning to subside.

“There remain ongoing constraints in the supply chain and intermittent labour shortages across the sector as, despite the vaccine success, colleagues, subcontractors and suppliers are subject to self-isolation requirements to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

“In addition, the national shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers and recent disruption to fuel supplies has had some impact on the availability of materials.  In general, these constraints are manageable by adopting good procurement disciplines and forward planning.

“They will, however, mean that construction output in the first half of financial year 2022 is likely to remain similar to that achieved in the first half of financial year 2021.

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Engineering and services specialist HE Simm Group has appointed Peter Lambert as Group Commercial Director.

Lambert’s previous role was a short-term post at nmcn as Commercial Director of its Telecoms Division.

He brings 33 years’ of industry experience in the built environment sector having worked for companies including Spie Matthew Hall, Lendlease and Laing O’Rourke.

Lambert spent eight years working within the commercial team at NG Bailey, leaving as Regional Commercial Director to take up the post at nmcn in April before the firm went into administration earlier this month.

He joined Lee Marks who left NG Bailey at the same time to take over as the new chief executive of nmcn.

In his new role at HE Simm Group Lambert will lead and run the company’s commercial function in line with its overall strategic plan. As part of the Group Executive Leadership Team, he will report directly to CEO Gareth Simm.

Simm said: “We are very excited about Pete joining the team. He brings with him a wealth of experience, gained through working at some of the UK’s leading contracting firms.

“I am really looking forward to seeing what Pete can bring to our business, especially as we look ahead to a clear growth strategy over the coming years.

“Pete is one of two major appointments we’re making this month. Both individuals will add a lot of value to the Group, I have no doubt about that.”

Lambert added: “I am delighted to be joining HE Simm. The company has certainly become one to watch in the M&E field over the last few years. It has a great reputation and a lot of potential for further growth into new sectors and new regions in the UK.

“I am looking forward to sharing my experience with the team and to supporting them commercially with their ambitious strategic plans, as well as getting back into the M&E industry, which is where my passion lies.”

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Paul Brown will take over as the new CEO of John Sisk & Son from January.

Current CEO Steve Bowcott, 66, will help with the handover after spending six-and-a-half years in the role.

Company Chair Gary McGann said: “We are pleased to appoint Paul to this role and are very fortunate to have someone of his calibre and experience to take up the leadership of the company.

“We are very grateful for Steve’s commitment and his service to Sisk since his appointment in 2015 and as his term comes to an end, the Board believes that Paul has the skills and qualities to continue to deliver our progressive strategy as the leading Irish Construction Company.”

Brown is currently Chief Operating Officer for the entire UK construction business and for the Group Civil Engineering business.

He said, “I am honoured to lead our business into the next phase of its development, building on Steve’s great work and that of my colleagues.  I want to thank the Sicon Board, the Sisk family and all of my colleagues for their support and look forward to working with them towards the continued success of the company.”